


Avatar Poetry

by AerisLei



Series: Fanfiction.Net Imports [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Introspection, Other, price of war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-26
Updated: 2008-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29823525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerisLei/pseuds/AerisLei
Summary: Character tags are for the voices of various poems. Chapters will be titled with the poem name and character voice if it is a specific character. Only 2 poems have any ship tinging at all, most are character-centric.
Series: Fanfiction.Net Imports [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192322





	1. In Your Eyes [Katara to Zuko]

**Author's Note:**

> This work was imported from Fanfiction.net in its original state. No edits have been made to this piece and it was written by me as a very inexperienced author. I am importing these pieces to ensure they remain in the body of works in the Fandom they represent but they may no longer represent my feelings or impressions of the work they are from. There are inaccuracies, but any changes made will be posted as entirely rewritten works.

I stare into your eyes  
And I see so much  
I see things I would never expect  
From Your kind  
How can you care?  
So much about anything  
You defy your people  
But why?  
What is it about you that makes me care  
What is it about you that challenges me  
That makes me want to know more  
That makes me love the fire in your eyes  
What was it? What is it?  
Was that look love?  
Or was it simply confusion...  
Was it compassion?  
Or was it all a Lie?


	2. Burned Bridges [Zuko]

People Say  
Burned bridges can never be crossed  
If that is the case  
I have no bridges left to cross  
I shattered my chances  
With all those I loved  
I've burned all the bridges  
Connecting them to me  
So I ask  
Can a burned bridge be crossed?  
Can I fix the mistakes that I made?


	3. Is She Alive [Zuko]

I listen to my father's words  
Again and again in my mind  
And I find it so hard to puzzle meaning  
From such plain speech  
Does he know more of her fate?  
Than he says?  
Or is he just trying to push me  
Into making another mistake  
In my mind I ask the same question  
Again and again I ask:  
Is she alive?  
Could she really be alive some where  
But of course there is no answer  
At least not a straight one  
In the confines of my mind  
But that doesn't stop me from wondering...  
Is she alive?


	4. Forbidden Love [Zuko and Katara]

Katara:

How can I feel anything for him  
After everything he's done TO me  
After the way he hurt Aang  
How can Aang ever trust him?  
How can I ever trust him?  
But something inside of me  
Pushes me to listen why?

Zuko:

How can I feel anything for her?  
After the way she's been acting  
After she attacked me while I was  
On my knees  
That put me in mind of my Father  
So how do I still care for her?  
After she threatened my Life  
If I make one more mistake

Katara:

Somehow, I do  
Feel something for him  
Other than the anger and Hate  
I do, but I can't let him see that  
He's hurt us badly enough  
Without knowing he could  
Wrap me around his finger

Zuko:

I can't let her see  
How I really feel  
For in doing so  
I would give her a path  
Into a heart  
That has been damaged so badly before  
That would be asking  
For even more  
Pain in the end  
And besides...what about Mai?


	5. Who Am I [Zuko]

After everything  
I sit here staring at  
This painting of you  
So many things  
I have done,  
Would horrify you beyond belief  
I gaze at the image of you  
And I ask  
Who am I?  
Of all the questions  
In my mind  
This one rings through the hardest

I am the Fire Lord's Eldest  
I was Heir Apparent from the age of 10  
I was an outcast  
I was a simple boy working on a farm  
If only for a day  
I was a normal teen  
Working in a tea shop  
If only for a while  
I was a warrior  
A traitor even once  
Now I am a teacher  
And an enemy.

Still the same question rings  
In my mind as I gaze  
Upon the face  
That I remember so well  
Who Am I?


	6. In This Cell [Iroh]

In this cell  
I am forced  
To remember  
All the things I tried  
To forget.

I am forced to remember  
That he was not LuTen  
I am forced to remember  
How young he really was  
I am forced to remember  
The pain of loosing  
The love of someone

When he comes  
While I am in this cell  
I find I can not face him  
I find I can't look him in the eyes  
In this cell...  
I remember how alone I am


	7. What Was I Thinking? [Ursa]

What was I thinking?  
That night  
When I agreed  
To marry him  
What was I thinking?  
That I could change him?  
What gave me the idea?  
That he was human?  
That he even had a heart...  
What was I thinking?

What was I thinking that night?  
That night I saved my Eldest  
What was I thinking?  
Leaving him there  
With those demons  
He called 'Father' and 'Sister'  
What was I thinking?  
When I woke him to say goodbye  
What was I thinking when?  
I left him To believe that I was dead  
What was I thinking?


	8. Diary Entry [Ursa]

Walk down the street  
To the store that I work in  
Glancing at the posters  
Always put up on the wall  
A familiar face stares back at me  
One I know so well  
I read the writing on the side  
A name  
A description  
And who is with him  
A boy of sixteen  
I know so well  
I walk into the store  
Chewing on my lip

What has happened since I left?  
The question that rings through my head  
Why? I ask myself  
Is there a bounty on his head?  
My son  
My oldest child  
What could he have done  
To anger his father so?


	9. My Son [Ursa]

My son,  
I ask of you  
To always be yourself  
To never forget where you came from  
To never forget who you are  
I ask you not to forget me  
Despite how young you are...  
And I ask you to remember me  
For all I've done for you...  
I'm sorry I am not there for you...  
I'm sorry I had to go  
I can only hope...  
That my last words didn't come to late...


	10. Untitled [Ozai]

Of all the decisions  
I have had to make  
The most recent  
Was the hardest  
To make

My son  
I would have killed  
In an instant  
But that woman  
That infernal woman  
Had to interfere  
Had to protect that Child

How dare she put me in that position  
How could she kill my father  
I should have had her killed  
But I could not  
Something about her  
Still holds me captive  
So, as the sun rises  
In banishment she resides  
To live or to die  
By her own actions


	11. In the War Room [Iroh]

I look at the child  
By my side  
And I wonder why I dread having him here  
Something feels wrong  
In the War Room  
Like an accident  
Is waiting to happen

A general speaks  
The boy tenses  
I can feel his anger  
And the dread fills me  
All over again  
He stands despite  
My request to  
Remain silent  
My eyes widen slightly  
As they argue  
What is my nephew thinking?

Then my brother stands  
And I know  
That the trouble  
Is just beginning  
In the War Room


	12. Agni Kai [Iroh]

A challenge  
An answer  
That's all it takes  
For an Agni Kai

A child's anger  
An adult's outrage  
That's all it takes  
For an Agni Kai  
I stare at the child  
The Boy  
My nephew,  
Not my son  
I have to remind myself of that

How does he think  
That he can face

A master  
A general  
But things are far worse  
And I didn't even know it

The fight is about  
To begin  
When I realize who  
My young Zuko  
Is about to face  
My brother  
His Father  
The Fire Lord

A child's anger  
A father's outrage  
That's all it took  
for an Agni Kai

The Agni Kai begins  
The boy falls  
To his knees  
He didn't expect to face  
His father

A blast of fire  
Aimed straight  
For the boy's face  
Many look away  
As it strikes  
And I hear laughter  
From beside me

A child's anger  
A father's outrage  
That's all it took  
For an Agni Kai


	13. The Visitor Part One

A mother, father, sister, and brother sit quietly together  
Talking over a small dinner  
Prepared by her Talking laughing, joking and smiling  
Just being a family, if only for that night  
The night of the boy's sixteenth birthday

Suddenly, at the door, there came a pounding T  
he father and brother rise as one,  
moving toward the door  
The father opened it,  
his eyes widening as he saw  
The general of the Army holding a scroll  
The mother gasped, closed her eyes, and shook her head  
She knew her son was going to war

'By Royal Proclamation,  
any male 16 or older  
That is under the age of forty,  
must report to the army head quarters  
Sunrise tomorrow,  
or there will be deadly consequences'  
The General speaks coolly,  
impassively, he couldn't care less

As the general walks away,  
mother and sister begin to cry  
The boy, whose sixteenth birthday it,  
was straring at them  
And then at his father,  
in the morning, he knew,  
he was going to war


	14. The Visitor Part Two

I sit alone,  
upon my bed  
The words at dinner,  
ringing through my head Again and again,  
I hear the words  
'Any male 16 or older,  
That is under the age of forty,  
must report to the army head quarters'  
Again and again they remind me,  
that despite being young I am going to war,  
I know I'm not ready  
But still I will go,  
it is my duty  
To protect my family,  
and my country

I can not stop the fear,  
that is welling up inside  
But I can, and I must, stop it from controlling me  
I have a job to do, and I must do it,  
for I am the only one who can  
Alone I will stand,  
Alone I will fight,  
if I must  
My for my family, for my country,  
for my Honor  
For those things I will fight  
Because without those things  
What is a man?

So, as the sun begins to rise  
I walk away,  
from the home that I grew up in  
I walk away from the village that  
I spent my years  
It is time,  
to become a Man


	15. All My Life [Zuko]

All my life I lived  
In a daze  
Barely taking in  
The world around me  
For years I wandered  
Through Life  
Without a care

And then you came  
Reminding me  
That not all people are cruel

You came  
And opened my eyes  
To the world around me  
For the first time  
In a long time  
You reminded me  
What it is like  
To care  
And to love  
Without Fear


	16. Fall From Grace [About Azula]

An angel burns  
Fire surrounding her heart,  
Engulfing what is left  
Of her fragile 'emotions'

She had thought herself perfect  
The most powerful,  
And in her vanity,  
She forgot her place,  
Her duty...for her transgressions  
She has fallen

Never will she  
Walk among Us  
When she dies here,  
No one  
Will mourn her  
For long, at least.


End file.
